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jbaileyfansite · 5 months

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Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer's Interview for WMagazine (2023)

Warning: Spoilers for Fellow Travelers ahead.

Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey had a feeling their characters’ sexual escapades in Fellow Travelers would ignite a social media firestorm. But apart from some in-person encounters with fans who watched the Showtime limited series, both actors claim they’ve avoided going down a rabbit hole of reactions to their performances.

“The first week of just seeing a GIF of a toe was kind of alarming,” Bailey says in a joint interview with Bomer. “But when you’re doing a scene like that, you know what function it serves—not just in the story, but in the selling of a TV series. I call it the Trojan toe: You slip it in, get people watching, and by the time they get to [that moment], they’ll understand exactly what the show’s setting out to explore.”

Adapted from Thomas Mallon’s 2007 novel, Fellow Travelers chronicles the clandestine romance between Hawkins Fuller (Bomer), a debonair State Department employee, and Tim Laughlin (Bailey), a wide-eyed college graduate, who fall in love at the height of McCarthyism and the Lavender Scare in 1950s Washington D.C. As they weave in and out of each other’s lives across multiple decades, Hawk and Tim’s enduring relationship hurtles toward a devastating conclusion in the 1980s. Following Tim’s terminal AIDS diagnosis, Hawk visits his lover—whom he has nicknamed “Skippy”—one last time in San Francisco, where they both come to terms with the significance of their volatile romance.

“A lot of people feel seen—not just by the sex scenes, but by aspects of queer identity on the show,” Bomer says. “That’s the hope, right? That whatever you’re pouring your heart and soul into resonates with somebody or makes them feel seen.”

On a recent visit to New York City, Bailey and Bomer were affable and laid-back—a far cry from the brooding, tortured characters that have defined their respective careers. Bouncing ideas off each other, the charming costars spoke with W about their approach to telling their characters’ epic love story, the surreal experience of shooting their final scene together, and what to expect from Maestro and the next season of Bridgerton.

Why does Hawk and Tim’s connection make them question everything they thought they knew about themselves?

Jonathan Bailey: You will never really know what Hawk and Tim would’ve been like [as a full-fledged couple]. You can’t judge them on anything, because there’s a survival element at play, which reflects the brutality of the world they were born into. As [the show] expands and this liberation blooms, we see more of [Hawk’s wife] Lucy [played by Allison Williams] and the impact of Hawk’s decisions on the characters around him.

To me, it’s a love story for the ages because you can follow any thread and it comes back to the political backdrop. But ultimately, there’s a real meeting of souls between the two. They complete each other in a way that’s so painful. But in a world where joy, connection and absolution are so hard to find, especially in the ’50s for gay men, it becomes addictive, and there are toxic cycles that come from it.

Matt Bomer: There are aspects of their own personal trauma that are complementary of each other.

JB: And they feed the other’s insecurities.

MB: The sad thing is, when Hawk is finally at a place where he can be his most authentic self and be available and empathetic enough to be a real partner in a relationship, it’s too late.

Hawk has a very specific moral code as a gay man living a double life in the 20th century: He is clearly able to show genuine affection for Tim, but he needs control in his relationships and is able to code-switch in public. Tim doesn’t understand Hawk’s ability to compartmentalize his life, but he still finds Hawk irresistible. How did you want to embody the many contradictions of your characters?

MB: For me, it all went back to Hawk’s childhood and that horrific incident that happened with his father [and his first love, Kenny]. He refuses to be a victim, so he’s going to find a way to survive and thrive in whatever way he can. It all ties into the fact that he will never be the victim of a homophobic society or family again.

JB: What Tim’s really drawn to in Hawk is his center. Hawk is the epicenter of all these people’s worlds because he doesn’t afford them space to veer him off in any direction. Tim’s always there for Hawk when he needs him, but Hawk’s never really there for Tim, and that is something Tim is drawn to. Tim’s quest in life is his desperate need for a groundedness, and the choice I made early on was to physicalize Tim so that his inner and outer world were matched.

Tim finds it really hard to lie; he can’t not be completely transparent. The decoding of Hawk is something that fills all sorts of needs in Tim. But as he gets older and [society’s] way of thinking aligns with his need to disassemble the cards he’s been given, Tim finds a stillness and a calm, which is reflected in the way he can then handle Hawk.

MB: Hawk does have his allegiances and his own sense of empathy, but if it comes down to anything that’s going to threaten his survival, he can go full Scorpio and cut it off. [He’s] a little Mother Teresa, a little Tony Soprano. [Laughs.]

JB: And in the performing of [those scenes], Tim felt so much more love than I thought he would. In episode two, I think it became more confusing to play Tim in the best possible way, because when he says, “I don’t understand you” [to Hawk], it’s because he can see the palpable empathy, love, and compassion. That is just as real as everything else, and that is a bind for Tim and really hard to step away from. When they look at each other, there’s no one else that’s ever existed. And if you’re lucky enough to have that with someone, it’s really hard to let that go.

There are little details that anchor each of Hawk and Tim’s sex scenes—the eye contact, the importance of consent, the shifting power dynamics, the negotiation of how much of yourself you’re willing to give to another person. How did you want to subvert traditional depictions of queer intimacy?

MB: We were so fortunate that those scenes were just an extension of the story, that the relationship was never the same after one of those scenes as it was before. It was always an externalization of what was going on with the characters internally.

JB: I think it’s a rule that [creator] Ron [Nyswaner] learned on Homeland where every single scene has to further the story—and that’s true of the sex scenes. Because there haven’t necessarily been elevated, eight-hourlong gay dramas like this; there was space to breathe, and that constant negotiation between the two of them is so vital. I remember speaking to [executive producer/director] Dan Minahan in Toronto. We had a good few hours, and we ended up talking about intimacy and how you can capture it on film. The thing that I understand [from] enjoying love stories or intimacy on film is the moments where they surprise each other.

MB: Yeah! It’s not like Hawk’s pushing the envelope the whole time; Tim upends Hawk as much as Hawk upends Tim’s expectations.

JB: We basically started with the chicken soup [scene in episode one], when Hawk seduces Tim for the first time. By the time we were in episode four, we were really emboldened as a team. As Jonny and Matt, we were always whispering, “This is absolutely fine, if you want to do this.” For so many people, it’s bizarre to think of that as a job. But when the material is as rich as this, no stone will go unturned into [depicting] how intricate, sensitive, celebratory, and joyful those moments are.

MB: I believe everybody should get to play every role, but I think the fact that we’re both openly gay men lent an ease and an understanding of a lot of the aspects of the relationship.

JB: You can have conversations between yourselves of why your instincts are cropping up in those moments. It was a bit like when, just before they dive, synchronized divers do that thing where they jump up and clap.

MB: [Laughs.] That was us! And there’s no [going] halfway in scenes like those that are written in this [show]. You know you have to go all the way.

Knowing that the entire emotional weight of their relationship rests on the penultimate line, “Promise you won’t write,” what did you want to convey in Hawk and Tim’s final scene together outside the governor’s ball? What do you remember from shooting their goodbye scene?

MB: I remember everything about that day.

JB: Yeah, I do too. Everything was in hyper-focus. It was overwhelming.

MB: It’s one of those scenes that you’re really glad you didn’t have to shoot on day two, because we had five and a half months of history [with] these characters. It was one of the last things we filmed together.

JB: I left [Toronto] early as well [to shoot Bridgerton], so we didn’t finish [shooting] together. We finished the love story in that scene.

MB: Yes, that’s right. It was one of those days at work where you have to try to get out of your own way and trust that all you’ve invested in these roles and these relationships will be inside of you. You don’t have to try to force or push anything; you have to just try to keep it alive and spontaneous when the cameras are rolling.

JB: I think we filmed it in the first take, didn’t we?

MB: Yeah.

JB: There are moments in that scene when it was like the world melted away. It’s amazing to see Tim establish his boundaries and be really kind with it. In that moment, he’s fully centered and aligned, and Hawk helps give him that final push to go, “I know what I’m doing, and what I’m saying is the right thing.” He’s never really known that with Hawk.

MB: Yeah, Hawk is finally emotionally vulnerable. I had every intention of coming into that scene and not letting any emotional vulnerability creep through, but it’s just one of those things where the scene takes over and you don’t want to block it.

Have either of you given much thought to what a second season of Fellow Travelers could look like?

JB: What I hope this [season] will be is a trampette into telling other queer stories, because two white gay men are the way in [to start a larger conversation], and it would be so interesting to have a world explored of [Jelani Alladin’s] Marcus and [Noah J. Ricketts’] Frankie. They were such a massive reason why I was like, “Okay, this is going to be good.”

MB: They weren’t in the book, and it was so important from the creatives that we included that narrative.

JB: I would totally come back and support Frankie’s story.

MB: Yeah, I would come in and do two days—whatever they need me for.

JB: Frankie and Marcus up front, and I’ll be there.

Surely, we all deserve to have the two of you star in a rom-com together (with a happier ending than this one).

JB: If someone comes up with it... Who would be the dream?

MB: To direct?

JB: Yeah. Luca Guadagnino?

MB: Yes, Luca or Andrew Haigh.

JB: We’ll do it!

MB: We’re there. And Russell T. Davies, if it’s a miniseries.

Have you discussed collaborating again in the future?

MB: Listen, sign me up to work with Jonathan Bailey any time. [They shake hands.] I will bring a tray to his character at the dinner table in a scene.

JB: Stop it. As long as it’s [like] Upstairs, Downstairs…

MB: [Laughs.] Yes, exactly. I would love that. Next time, I have to be British though. And I’ll come to London.

JB: I’ll be a Texan cowboy. [They laugh.]

In addition to Fellow Travelers, you both have new projects that will be debuting in the coming months. Matt, what were some of your takeaways from working with Bradley Cooper on Maestro?

MB: Bradley is such a generous and beyond talented scene partner—and his style of directing is so electric and present. He wants everything happening on the camera for the first time. I feel like I was really the beneficiary of his process before I started work on Fellow Travelers because I got to watch him and Carey [Mulligan] travel through all these phases of their multidecade romance. And then, [I was] getting to work with Johnny—who’s so similar in many regards, so generous, always keeping you on your toes and bringing things to the material that make the scene richer.

JB: Has Bradley watched Fellow Travelers?

MB: I keep telling him to! And Carey says she wants to. She keeps asking me where it’s on in England.

The third season of Bridgerton will premiere in two parts on May 16 and June 13, 2024. Jonathan, what new layers of Kate (Simone Ashley) and Anthony’s relationship will we see in the new season?

JB: I’m a massive fan of “Kanthony.” There’s so much to enjoy for both of them now, and we explore that in season three. They’ve overcome a lot. [We’re] talking about the need for communication in a romance, and that study of how they communicate and how little they did communicate until the very end [of season two]. So now, we can see them completely celebrate each other for who they are. There are really lovely conversations about heritage and familial roles, and once you meet someone who understands you fully, having sacrificed so much for the families as they both have, how exciting [it is] to make decisions that might change the course for them [as a couple].

Source

#fellow travelers #jonathan bailey #matt bomer #interviews #interviews:2023 #wmagazine interview #NEW!

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halsaph · 5 months

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alright whats this artdrone killbot thing

hi. You will regret asking this

The Murderbot Diaries is a series of books about a human-bot construct that was designed to essentially exist as an enslaved security guard / piece of sentient spyware. It's like if Alexa had half a human brain and a gun. We're introduced to Murderbot (the murder alexa) roughly 3 years after it's hacked the piece of hardware in it's brain that forces it to obey commands. In those 3 years it hasn't changed much about it's life except now while working as a subhuman slave it watches tv when no one is paying attention. As a series TMBD largely is about themes of personhood and discovering yourself when you have largely spent your life being denied the right to a sense of self. They also don't shy away from addressing the trauma that Murderbot has experienced from having it's autonomy stripped of it for most of it's life, with the second novella and most recent novel most heavily featuring that as an element. (Although that is a core aspect of Murderbot's character that informs its decisions throughout the entire series).

Murderbot as a character is bitingly sarcastic and witty, deeply paranoid and ultimately filled with the constant low level anxiety it doesn't know what it's doing (not necessarily moment by moment but overall, with it's freedom, with it's life). It's an excellent unreliable narrator because it only tells you exactly what it thinks is important in a scenario, relationships between other characters, physical features of itself and the people around it, it's own emotions and reactions often being completely brushed over with only occasional clues, and often outright misinterpreting people's actions, most often it's own. It has this ever present self loathing in the first several books where it constantly explains it's actions away in the least charitable interpretation possible even though we see time and time again that at it's core it deeply wants to help and protect the people around it. And we see over the course of the books as it starts learning how to make choices for itself and interacting with people who treat it with respect and develops a support system as it starts to move away from that mindset (with the exception of the most recent book but to be fair to MB System Collapse is about it being forced to confront it's PTSD and it's backsliding alot from recently being thrown back into a situation from its worst nightmares). I said before its a human-bot construct to explain that it isn't purely an inorganic being but Murderbot is a deeply inhuman character and openly has no desire to be human, and it's perspective as something that is made to be a security system and enmesh into both digital and hardwired surveillance is fascinating to read. As you know I deeply deeply love robots, they're my favorite kind of 'inhuman but still a Person' kind of character and Murderbot perfectly strikes the balance between a starkly in human way of thinking and deeply relatable emotions that draws me to robots as a whole, especially as an autistic person (and Murderbot was intentionally written with autistic traits but in a subversion of the typical ableist depiction of autistic robots so that EXTRA rings true lmao)

seeing as you mentioned it I will also explain ART as a character, ART is one of the reoccurring characters in the series (the first 3 novellas all have completely different casts outside of Murderbot itself as it hops from place to place trying to decide what it wants and who it is before in the fourth novella and beyond bringing back in previous characters and having them start to overlap throughout the rest of the series). It was introduced in the second book and is arguably the character that has the greatest impact on Murderbot as a person although I say arguably bc I would personally still say that's Mensah. Unarguably tho it is one of the most important people in Murderbot's life and has been described multiple times now by the author as the love of its life (although not necessarily in a romantic sense as Murderbot is both within text and confirmed via word of god acearo). ART (Asshole Research Transport) also known as the Perihelion (although not until the 5th book/first novel bc Murderbot doesn't bother to tell tell the readers its name until then, instead deciding its a dick so its gonna exclusively call it by an insult) is a spaceship's pilot AI, made to be sentient instead of the usual smart GPS as an experiment by the university is was made by. It was raised like a child by a pair of scientists who are now part of its crew (along with its sibling Iris) and now is a teaching vessel for students learning about deep space and also anticorporate espionage worker (don't worry about it). It's a giant pushy asshole unless you're a child (the only character we've ever seen it meet on screen it didn't in some way immediately threaten was a 16 yo). It can't watch tv without having to pause at the suspenseful bits to calm down. We're introduced to it by it threatening to melt Murderbot's mind and then pouting when it's scared shitless. It then a month later asks to do surgery on it. It fully intends to blow up a planet to get Murderbot back from a group of colonists that captured it until someone talks it out of it because that isn't effective hostage negotiation.

#the murderbot diaries #there are five novellas and two novels btw I couldn't think how to include that naturally in the block of text

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punisheddonjuan · 1 month

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How difficult is usenet to actually use?

If you can figure out how to torrent, you can figure out Usenet. Actually in a lot of ways Usenet is easier. First download SABnzbd, think of this as your BitTorrent client except that it's managed entirely within your internet browser. It's the program that decodes the data in .nzb files, figures out what binaries it needs to download and gets them, and then compiles them before unpacking. Think of .nzb files as the equivalent to .torrent files in BitTorrent. You're also going to need to sign up with a Usenet provider, you might as well take advantage of the offer advertised on the SABnzbd website for Newshosting. I use Newshosting and it's one of maybe three providers actually worth signing up for, the others are Easynews and Giganews. But honestly Newshosting is the one to go with.

Okay so now that you've got a binary downloader and you're signed up with a Usenet service, what about actually finding "filez"? For this you'll need an indexer, there are free indexers out there like NZBKing, but they're sort of meh. A subscription to one of the good ones, however, is absurdly cheap. NZBGeek charges $6USD for six months access or $12USD for a year, $80 nets you lifetime access. NZBFinder is more expensive and tiers their service, locking some 4K UHD and porn behind higher tiers. Honestly NZBGeek is the one to go with, there's not much I haven't been able to find on there, and the things I haven't been able to find is like extremely obscure stuff, we're talking early minor works in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's filmography that I'm not wholly certain even received a DVD release, that kind of thing. But who knows, maybe the porn selection on NZBFinder is better, I have no idea.

Once you're signed up with a provider and an indexer, plug in the required info into the SABnzbd settings page, set SABnzbd to watch a folder, search your indexer for whatever it is you're looking for, download the .nzb file into that watched folder and you're good. SABnzbd will read that .nzb and start downloading files.

There is one downside to Usenet, and it's that multi-file downloads aren't as much a thing. Oftentimes you won't be able download an entire season of TV in one go, you'll have to download each episode individually, although occasionally season repacks are uploaded. NZBGeek makes it easy to set up batch queues however, and you can play with the options in SABnzbd to schedule the downloading of those batches. There are also options to automatically rename and sort files into folders once they're downloaded, which is practically a necessity when downloading an entire TV series (unless you enjoy manually moving files across dozens of folders). Thankfully it's easy to configure it so that TV episodes are sorted to resemble something like "Series Name"/"Season XX"/"Episode XX - Episode Name". Even with that extra bit of work you have to put in downloading all the episodes of a TV series individually on Usenet it will probably still be faster than Torrenting (depending of course on how well a .torrent is seeded). Usenet files will always download at the fastest possible speed, so your speeds are only ever bottlenecked by your internet connection and provider speeds. With my internet connection I'm always hitting 9.5 MB/s with whatever it is I'm downloading, meaning a 5GB film is finished downloading in around seven minutes. (We've come so far. I remember downloading the trailer for Star Wars: Episode 1 with my dad over 56k dial-up. It took an entire afternoon and in that time my mom's car broke down while she was out and she couldn't get a hold of the house.)

And it's not like I don't still use BitTorrent, I'm seeding 1322 torrents on a private tracker at this very moment. I generally turn to Usenet for films and new episodes of TV, and it's a mix of BitTorrent and Usenet if I'm downloading an entire TV season or series. When it comes to music piracy I'm on a private BitTorrent tracker and I use SoulSeek too. I don't pirate much software but that's generally done on BitTorrent, and as for eBooks, well there's no better option than Library Genesis. It's always good to have a mix of options to cover your bases.

Go have fun.

#answered asks #anon ask #computers #usenet #piracy #also if you want my soulseek username hit me up #i'm sharing over 5500 albums on there and thousands of ebooks too

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naffeclipse · 9 months

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*Breaks down the door with my foot. Cue me throwing on a pair of shades and sliding right into your blog.*

*Pointing, while screaming at the top of my lungs*

WHAT ‼️

IS ‼️

UP ‼️

NAFFECLIPSE ECLIPSED GANG ‼️‼️‼️

The chronically online Instagram user…/hj

The one who makes those meme comps…

FANDOM has finally arrived to TUMBLR 😎😎😎

Party rocking in the house tonight frfr. Someone start the celebratory music STAT ‼️

Now after waiting since 2021 I shall lurk and invade, making my way, my presence known in the DCA Tumblr community. I have been perceiving Naff for the longest time since bUT I shall not stop there.

I shall go around and appreciate more of my favorite creators from this community and you shall NOT ‼️

I repeat. Shall NOT ‼️ Stop me in my silly quest. Or with my silly commentary.

>:)

Now Naff.

<3333

Lovely lovely Naff you.

I can make my silly comments known to you properly about your lovely fics and AU ideas 🙌

I have been perceiving your blog since my dear friend who helped me create those posts told me that you had one. I’ve been around since your MerMay oneshots. I have been here, when the Sleuth Jesters series was new and I’ve been loving. LOVING. Your work since then

You’re an excellent writer! I love your writing style so much, you put so much life and care into the characters you write. I can close my eyes and daydream about what they look like, what they’re doing, like I’m watching a movie about them.

Sleuth Jesters series? Smh. That is mentally a Netflix TV series in my head with bonus features behind the scenes 🫣

Cryptid Sightings series? Meep’s design of the boys pops up in my brain, and it’s in full 3D playing on the big movie cinema screen in my brain. Popcorn and everything 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

All of your other fics too work the same way, I can genuinely imagine them getting an adaptation of sorts/srs

Naff the Eclipsed Squared you are truly goated.

Every time you write something, I go unhinged. I devour on all of the words like multiple Mukbangs back to back. I blend them like a nice milkshake to drink. Idc how many words there are Naff. I feast well on reading whatever is provided anyways >:0

Now farewell…Eclipsed gang. Farewell MB!Clip simps and everyone alike. I shall continue now in my goofy ahhh appreciation for my fav content creators in this community.

Naff I am throwing flowers, coins, chocolates, hearts at your doorstep and whatever else you will enjoy. Take it all.

💞💞💞💞💞💞💗💗💗💗💗💗‼️‼️‼️

*Now cue me running out of your broken down door.*

*I shall perceive Bean next mwahahaha*

AHHHH HI HELLO I'M MELTING!!! YOU'RE SO SWEET EEEEEEEEEE!!!! You're here, Fandom! You're so sweet and I'm melting at every word, ahhh! Welcome to Tumblr!!!

#everyone say hi Fandom!!!#http-redshoes

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personinthepalace · 1 year

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Goodbye to The Mysterious Benedict Society (2021 - 2022) - The Morning After

youtube

The Mysterious Benedict Society has been cancelled. Disney did not renew it for a third season. The book series is my all time favorite, and I am so sad that we won't get to see the tv series reach its proper end. Thank you for two wonderful years 💜

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my-rose-tinted-glasses · 3 months

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My Strawberry Film, the next MBS Series.

Summary : High school sophomores Ryo, Hikaru, and Chika are living a seemingly peaceful high school life while harboring hidden emotions. One day, Hikaru and Chika find 8mm film in an old warehouse inside the school. A stunning girl in the film captures Hikaru’s attention, while Ryo worries about Hikaru, and Chika keeps an eye on the beautiful girl, whose gaze seems to pass by.

‘My Strawberry Film’ will be broadcast every Thursday local TV station MBS and is set to take over ‘Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun’, starting on February 15. Still no word on international distribution and also no mdl page as of yet.

‘My Strawberry Film (マイストロベリーフィルム)’ is the last installment in 2023’s MBS x Kadokawa’s collaboration project, which broadcast in the Tunku Drama Shower time slot and is set to take over ‘Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun’ in February.

The drama consists of eight episodes. Ryo Kawasaki, known for his work on Minato ShoujiCoin Laundry 2 and Naked Dining (as well as one for the screenwriters), is in charge of directing the youth drama about the intertwining feelings of four people.

[source BLtai]

#my strawberry film #japanese bl #rose reports

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galadhir · 4 months

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So I bought the latest Murderbot book, System Collapse as soon as it came out, on both audiobook and ebook, and I have to say that I was ever so slightly disappointed. It is a really good example of a Murderbot novella, just like the other ones in the series, but my problem is that with it coming after Network Effect I was hoping for other things.

When Network Effect finished with ART excitedly cleaning its interior because Dr. Mensah would be coming aboard, I was excited to be able to read about ART and Mensah meeting and learning to appreciate each other.

When we got the blurb for System Collapse and it became obvious that SecUnit was having something of a breakdown due to accumulated trauma, while Barish Estranza was up to its corporate worst, I was excited at the thought that Three might have to take over some of SecUnit's more running-about-and-murdering-people duties, while SecUnit had to take the trauma treatment.

I wanted to see how the Preservation humans and ART's crew got along. Which I guess happened with Ratthi and Tarik. But I suppose I had got used to the extra space and slightly more leisurely pace of the novel, and was not prepared to go back to the tight focus of a novella.

This is all entirely my fault for having expectations, rather than just trying to enjoy what I got for its own sake. And in fact I remember feeling a little disappointed with Network Effect when that came out, while now it is my favourite in the series. So I'm sure after a few more reads and listens I will also learn to appreciate System Collapse for what it is, instead of what it isn't.

And let's face it, SecUnit was due a collapse! And now I'm eager to find out if Three gets a starship of its own with Holism. I like the fact that they are the serious non-fiction nerds of the series, while Perihelion and SecUnit are the sci-fi geeks. Bless!

Also I'm excited (and a little nervous) at the thought of a Murderbot TV series.

I'm excited because

you can do so much with a series in which a SecUnit is the pov character - think about how you could tell a story from the perspective of a being who is regularly experiencing life through security cameras and flying drones and

I'm not sure I can think of another series with a protag like SecUnit, who avoids eye contact, expresses emotional discomfort by turning and facing the wall, is extremely touch averse, and above all is agender and asexual and quite vocal about that.

When have we ever had a tv series where the main character's pronouns are 'it'? If they only keep that, the series will be revolutionary.

But I'm nervous because

Look at the guy they cast as SecUnit. Did he have to be so white? MB lives in a universe where most of the important characters are black or various shades of brown. It kind of defeats the importance of having so many important characters of colour if they're mostly there in order to be rescued by a white main character.

The show runners are both male. It would be so easy for a pair of straight cis male writers to ignore the widespread queerness of the setting and all the things most queer/non-neurotypical readers find so endearing about SecUnit and turn it into yet another male power fantasy where a heavily armed and deadly cyborg solves everyone's problems with ultra-violence.

It would be so easy for them to call SecUnit 'he' and churn out something like Robocop or Judge Dredd where the uncommunicative white guy with a heart of gold and a big gun gets to be the hero again. That would make it more marketable. It would make it more relatable to the straight cis white guys who make up the desired audience for SF shows (or so I've heard.) And it would take away from this agender asexual person someone who was very rare and precious to them.

Honestly listening to cis people talking about Murderbot is painful enough now when they must have read the book and they must have been bombarded for thousands of words with instances of it being called 'it' and insisting that gender was inapplicable to it and it found sex distasteful. Somehow even after all of that they will insist on calling it 'he' or 'she.' God knows how much worse it could get if the TV series did it too.

#murderbot show

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